Related Content

"The Super Bowl is not won or lost last week, and probably not won or lost this week, and it becomes a little bit harder with every loss, but we are just going to come out and play good football and keep trying to get better," Roethlisberger said.

NFL history shows that an 0-2 start is tough to overcome. Since 1990, only about 15 percent of all teams that lost their first two games went on to qualify for the postseason.

The good news is the Steelers are one of those teams. In 2002, Coach Bill Cowher replaced Kordell Stewart with Tommy Maddox at quarterback and Pittsburgh rallied to win the AFC North with a 10-5-1 record.

Sunday's opponent, the New York Jets, will come into Heinz Field with confidence after blowing out Buffalo in Week 1. So this game no longer seems a safe bet for Pittsburgh, like it did when the Jets were stumbling through the preseason amid a circus atmosphere.

"It seems like that's how people look at us," Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "I was like, 'You can think that all you want, but we see something different.' I do, and I know this football team does. When I said our opponents will take us seriously, I promise you that. And, they will."

Sunday will also see two big names return to Pittsburgh with the Jets: cornerback Darrelle Revis, a former star at Aliquippa High School and Pitt, and wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who caught the winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII.

Win or lose, the Steelers say their fortunes for the rest of the season will not fall on the outcome of this one game.

"I think it's because of the simple fact you want to win every time you are out there, not because it's 0-2 and it's the end of the world," wide receiver Mike Wallace said. "I think it's more so because we always want to win. That is the type of team we are. We are not a losing team. We don't take well to losing."